Interpretation

Interpretation is the science of discovering the author’s original meaning as he wrote the Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The questions asked in order to accurately interpret the passage are important.

Further research questions are asked concerning:
Who? The characters.
What? The key truths or happenings.
Where? The geography and location of the events.
When? The time sequence of the events.
Why? The purpose of the text.

• The reader’s need
• The writer’s message

The answers for interpretation questions are: Recording an answer to the general question previously asked who, what, where, when, and why. Looking at other aspects of the passage.

• Study the content of the passage. What is in the passage itself without regard to the rest of the text.
• Examine the context of the passage. What has taken place before and after this passage in regards to the overall text. Remember there are different types of context that we must be concerned with. These may not be a concern at our first analysis of the text. Some of these are:
  • Literary
  • Historical
  • Cultural
  • Geographical
  • Theological


• Compare with other Scripture.
• Consulting resource books such as: commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and lexicons is the last step in interpretation.

Drawing a conclusion is now needed at this point.

Summary of Interpretation
Finding the elements in a passage or book is difficult. It is an exercise that requires careful study and prayer. Bear in mind, that you will be drawing conclusions based on all that you've studied before. The more text you study inductively, the greater your field of interpretation becomes.